History of the Democratic Unionist Party
Formation (564AER) Hastiga has been the hotbed of left-wing politics in the Empire for as long as people can remember. The polarisation of of politics on a national level and the ideological shift towards the right had made left-wingers across the Empire -- but in particular Hastiga -- more frustrated at the machinations of Corrintrin. Reluctantly people voted year after year on what seemed to be the only party left-wing enough to keep out a Conservative government, which led to low turnout and comfortable victories for the Progressive Labour Party (PLP). It was because of this, and the failure of years of inefficient neo-liberal governments, that a group of men and women gathered in Nonambar to represent the workers of Falleentium -- the Socialist Party was born. The Party was set up by a group of local politicians, former Hastigan representatives, union members and a pantheon of ordinary working people from all walks of life. At the helm of the party were socialist Hastigan MP Sigmar Gabriel and Chair of Nonambar City Council Dr. Willy Brandt. Brandt had become the face of the party, giving several speeches and expanding the membership of the party across the country. By mid 564AER, the party counted a stunning 5000 members mostly centered around Hastiga's cities and towns. The party sought to appeal to left-wing voters dissapointed by the watered down centrist policies of PLP leader Jacques Durand and his coalitions with the FLP. Several SP members held events targetted at defaming the PLP and proclaiming the SP to be the protest-party to the indifferent establishment. First Elections and Parliamentary Term (565-566AER) Campaign and Results After months of campaigning, public appearances, coverage by the media and an offensive campaign against the PLP -- the nation went to the polls to elect it's representatives during the Falleen Federal Election, 565AER. Against all odds, the Socialists managed to strike 40 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Most seats were won in the state of Hastiga, which was normally monopolised by the PLP, and cemented a strong support-base within the island state for the SP. The elections resulted in a FLP-PLP Cabinet, with Federal Liberal William Crest succeeding his coalition partner Jacques Durand (PLP). A victory rally was held by the party in the Hastigan city of Davisburgh once the election results had been announced. Brandt, who now was parliamentary leader of the Socialist Party in the Chamber of Deputies, gave an impassionate speech before tens-of-thousands of spectators. The closing and strongest line of the speech was: "For it is not grand armies and gears of war, nor the value of it's currency or the amount of power that it imposes on others than shows a nation's greatness. No, the only metric by which the greatness of a country can be measured is by the prosperity, dignity and happiness of it's people. This is why our social welfare system is so much more than just charity. Because we do not say to the rich people: "Please, give something to the poor". Instead we say: Falleen people, help yourself! Everyone must help, whether you are rich or poor! Everyone mut have the belief that there's always someone in a much worse situation than I am, and this person I want to help as a brother and a comrade." Parliamentary Activity During the campaign, Brandt had pledged to propose much needed minimum wage reforms which would see Falleen wages rise -- an issue which was not addressed after several decades of "neo-conservative" and "neo-liberal" governments in power alternatively. As soon as the new Socialist MP's were settled into their new lives in Corrintrin, a bill was drafted to take steps towards the increase of worker's wages. The "Minimum Wage for Contractors Act" was proposed to the House. The Act would see wages of workers under government contractors increase in an attempt to organically have wages rise through competition in the jobmarket. The bill however was shut down by the coalition, who claimed to have a widerange of wage reforms in the making. Over a year later, the government proposed a 10% minimum wage increase -- a notion which the SP fervently opposed on the notion that it was far from enough to address the meteoric rise in the cost of living for ordinary people. The bill was shut down, the last nail in the political coffin of the neoliberal establishment. Months later, the SP succesfully proposed and passed a 70% minimum wage increase -- to the chagrin of the PLP and the FLP. With the collapse of the PLP-FLP coalition in mid-566AER, the Socialist Party gained national prominence and popularity among left-wing voters. Brandt was regarded as the successor of the left on the national level, which had been left vacated by the implosion of the PLP. Opposition to the Government The opposition was as expected a conglomeration of the parliamentary right under Angela Merkel's UKIP, supported by the Conservative Guardians, the Alternative Party and the Falleentium Moderate Party who accounted in total fo 34% of the seats in the Chamber. The Socialists remained Indepedent during this parliament. Electoral Success and Leading the Opposition (567-571AER) Campaign and Results After months of campaigning following the collapse of the PLP-FLP Coalition, the 567AER elections showed SP's place as a household name in the Chamber of Deputies. The party managed to win 112 seats, an increase of 72 seats from the general elections 2 years prior. The big winner of the elections was UKIP however, being the only remaining major party running for office at the time with the withdrawal of the PLP and the reclamation of the FLP by Clinton Breckenridge. A government was formed under Angela Merkel as Chancellor composed by UKIP, FLP, FMP and supported by the CG and AP -- accounting for 53% of the seats in the house. Parliamentary Activity As opposition to the Government, the Socialists served mostly as check-and-balance for the right-wing government under Merkel. During this parliament, the Socialists attempted to pass a variety of policies aimed at restoring investment to public services such as education (Academic Awards Act 569AER), public housing (Living Spaces Act 567AER). It also lodged a bill to increase the minimum wage to a living wage (Living Wage Act 567AER) and a bill to establish regulation favouring consumers (Consumer Product Safety Act 567AER). Opposition to the Government Together with the LSWP, the FEP, the NPP and the GP -- the SP formed the bulk of the left-wing opposition under the parliamentary bloc known as Le cartel des gauches. The opposition accounted for 32% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Socialist Party Primaries, 570AER In 570AER, after three years of succesfully passing a variety of legislation committed to the betterment of Falleen workers' lives, the first ever Socialist Party Primaries were held. The well-established Socialist National Committee, the federal organisation for the Socialist Party, organised two-round vote to decide the party's leader. The winner of the primaries was incumbent leader Willy Brandt and the runner-up was Social Democrat Martin Schulz. Purple Coalition (571AER-575AER) Campaign and Results In the months leading up the campaign, the Socialist Party waged an active, affirmative and aggressive political campaign nation-wide. Party officials and members could be seen across the country visiting factories, schools, army bases, etc. to engage with every day people in the hopes of gaining their vote. Throughout the campaign, the Socialists fared well in the polls and proved that a traditionally left-wing party could grow to become a household name in Falleen politics. This is further documented in the Socialist Election Campaign, 571AER. Following the 571AER Election, the Socialist Party gained an additional 53 seats, raising it's share of the vote from 14% to 20% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. This was a resounding victory for the Socialist Party, asserting it's dominance of the Falleen left. After lengthy negotiations with Angela Merkel's United Koalition of Imperialist Parties, Jeff Sessions' Popular Republican Movement and Richard Thompson's Centre Party, the Socialist Party agreed to form a centrist "purple" coalition which would push for cuts in the military, reformation of the tax code and push for progressive investment programs. Brandt would serve as Deputy Chancellor to Angela Merkel, who would serve as Chancellor. Other Socialist cabinet members would be Martin Schulz as Finance Secretary, Emmanuel Macron as Economic Affairs Secretary, Al Franken as Industry Secretary, Sadiq Khan as Science Secretary and Sean Spicer as Press Secretary. Parliamentary Activity As second highest ranking public official, Willy Brandt pushed for decidedly left-wing economic policy within Angela Merkel's second cabinet. With Martin Schulz as Finance Minister, the Socialists managed to pass income tax reform (Federal Income Tax Reform Act 571AER), and corporate tax reform (Corporate Tax Reform Act 572AER). These were arguably the greatest achievements of the Socialists during this government, who supported by the PRM managed to establish a progressive tax system which greatly increased government revenue in a more egalitarian fashion by raising taxes on the wealthy. Furthermore, the Socialists further pushed for a wide array of investment into healthcare (Affordable Health and Investment Act 574) and education (Expansion of Public Education Act 574). Opposition to the Government The main opposition to the government came from the merger of the Falleen Falangist Party and the The Alternative, which subsequently formed the National Socialist Union and were further supported by the National People's Party and the National Socialist Falleen Workers Party. Merger with the VNP In late 571AER, the Socialist Party struck a deal with the Veld National Party for an official merger between the two. The VNP would be dissolved and become the Veld-branch of the Socialist Party. In exchange of support during Federal elections and representation in the Veld National Assembly, the Socialists pledged to respect the autonomy of the party in Veldunium and continue to support the nationalist ambitions of the party in the Imperial Parliament. First Socialist Government (575AER-582AER) Campaign and Results Following the results of the Falleen Federal Election, 575AER, where the Socialists came in second with an increased share of 192 seats, the Socialists managed to strike a parliamentary deal with other parties to form a government and prevent UKIP's Amber Rudd from becoming Chancellor. A liberal-progressive coalition was formed between the Socialists, Popular Republicans, New Progressives, Centrists and Federal Liberals. Opposition to the Government Rather than unifying the right, UKIP under Amber Rudd decided to lead the opposition on it's own, allegedly refusing to acknowledge it's main right-wing adversaries -- the CCU -- as a legitimate political force. This worked well into the hands of the government, which for most it's term managed to succesfully push for much of it's agenda unopposed by an organised opposition. Parliamentary Term During his cabinet, Brandt advocated for massive cuts to the military and a spree to close the fiscal deficit in the state budgets. For the latter, funds were diverted away from the defence budget and a variety of taxes were introduced such as Excise Duties. Investment into infrastructure, healthcare and education took center-stage in Brandt's first Cabinet. As one of the first measures, and as stated in the Socialist Manifesto for the 575 Election Campaign, Brandt took to the negotiation table with the state administrations of Hastiga and Veldunium to draft a common approach to the issue of independence referenda. Throughout the party's history, Brandt stressed the necessity of making the voices of the people of the aforementioned states, and quickly drafted the Brussels Agreement as to organise simple in-or-out of the Empire referenda for these states. Although rejected as a defeat by Brandt and the Government, the plan seemed to backfire when both the people of Hastiga and Veldunium voted in favour of independence and against remaining a part of the Falleen Empire, sending shockwaves throughout the country and making the government deeply unpopular. Party Rebranding (578AER) The war against the Red Federation proved problematic for the image of the Socialist Party, with fear among it's leaders that the party would be associated with it's more leftist elements and prove troublesome with regular voters. General-Secretary Christine Lagarde designed a spree of reformation which would "modernise" the party's image -- this is how Democratic Labour was born. Democratic Labour, in the announcement of GS Lagarde, will take a more progressive line in the future -- friendlier to markets, promoting workfarism, unionism, patriotism, job creation, growth and internationalism as opposed to the more populist left rhetoric of the party so far. Third World War (578AER-582AER) With the cowardly assault by the Red Federation on the Empire and it's allies, the Brandt government found itself at war agains the Communist and Islamic Rogue states of the Far East. Under Brandt's leadership, the tides of war were turned with succesful naval operations in the South and North, the liberation of Gelakkar Island and the protection of Shiha and Kaarnor from impending doom. Among the first policies of the Brandt cabinet at the outbreak of the war was the formation of a War Cabinet which would bring national unity by including parliamentary parties from across the political spectrum. James Brokenshire's CCU, Alberto Garzón's ULC, Michael Bloomberg's FMP, Maximilian Hess' NP and the UF all put partisan squarrels aside and decided to form the Cabinet of Willy Brandt II (wartime), with the sole exception of Amber Rudd's UKIP who refused to join the coalition without major concessions from the sitting cabinet. A state of Emergency was declared, and the Chancellery implemented a wide array of executive orders through the Chancellorial Decree system to kickstart the war economy and make the necessary changes to eventually win the war nearly 5 years later. By 582AER, succesful operations by then Supreme Allied Commander Philip de Villeneuve, the Islamic League collapsed with the Deddah Peace Accords, and soon thereafter the Red Federation was forced to the negotiating table. The peace resulted in the liberation of the FUC, South Shiha, Draaz, Jaharnum, Faraal and Jeet and an end to all hostilities between the Nillira Alliance and the Red Federation. Ending the War (582AER) Once the war was at it's dusk, Labour Democrats had fallen to around 14% in most polls. Being associated with the war, and the pressure growing on Brandt to put and end to the war from outside (UKIP) and inside his cabinet (CCU) in what he loosely referred to as "rightist opportunism". A common slander was the allegation that Chancellor Brandt prolongued the war purely for political purposes, seeking to avoid an election at a point when LabDem popularity was at it's lowest since 567AER. Nevertheless, Brandt made peace with the Red Federation by passing the peace accord which was unanimously supported in parliament. Post-war elections and Brandt's fall (582AER) Campaign and Results With the election being scheduled merely a month after the disssolvement of parliament, the election campaign was relatively short. Throughout the war, approval ratings for Labour Democrats and Chancellor Brandt plummetted to as low as 12% according to some polls. Brandt had become associated with the war, and with domestic failure in regards to the economic perils brought by the 5 year-long conflict. This proved decisive in the 582AER General Election results, which saw Labour Democrats shed over 60 seats to their former coalition partners the Popular Republican Movement. With the disastrous election performance, pressure on Brandt grew exponentially within the party. Brandt announced his resignation the morning after the last votes were counted and the make-up of the next parliament was clear. Although the resignation was fully voluntary, on paper, it was long expected that Brandt would not be able to continue his leadership tenure would the LabDems perform poorly after their first government. The clear winners of the election were the Popular Republican Movement, and the Coalition of Conservative Unionists, who tied at the top with 20% of the votes each -- followed by UKIP and LabDems tied at 15%. It resulted in the coronation of James Brokenshire as Chancellor, with a right-wing government composed of CCU, UKIP and the newly made Libertarian Alliance of Falleentium (LAF) -- further supported by UFID and the NFO. PRM coalition talks collapse Popular Republican Sheldon Whitehouse, having gained the plurality of votes, attempted to form a coalition. His initial plans were to revive the Purple Coalition of 571AER with the LabDems and UKIP, but talks soon collapsed with the three parties being unable to reach a concensus on fiscal policy. Soon thereafter, an alternative minority government was pitched between PRM, LabDems, NP, ULC and the FFDP, which seemed to have gained traction until conservative elements within the PRM blocked the deal and the plans quickly fell apart. Waters, who is a left-moderate also had his reservations about aligning themselves with Communists in the ULC, and religious fundamentalists in the FFDP. Opposition to the Government With the collapse of both coalition attempts by the PRM, Labour Democrats agreed to form the official opposition led by Whitehouse. The opposition was further supported by the New Progressives and the Faithful Falleen Distributist Party. In total it accounted for 40% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Waters managed to promote many of his followers within the left-moderate/progressive/social liberal wing of the party to high positions such as spokespeople and shadow secretaries; including Janet Yellen as Shadow Treasury Secretary, Doug Jones as Shadow Industry Secretary, Kamala Harris as Shadow Education Secretary, former Deputy Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry as Shadow Foreign Secretary, and former National Security Secretary Boris Johnson as Shadow Defence Secretary. Leadership Contest That same day, the LDNC called a snap leadership election to appoint the party's next leader. Five candidates were nominated to take part in an exhaustive ballot election which would see the least popular eliminated each round. The five candidates in the first round were: Emily Thornberry, Bill Burr, Kirsten Gillibrand, John Waters and Al Franken. The first round saw Bill Burr and Emily Thornberry acquire a commanding lead among other candidates. Burr, who sits at the right of the bookies' favorite -- Ms. Thornberry -- did surprisingly well considering his relatively unknown career. Gillibrand was automatically eliminated due to having the lowest votes, and Secretary Franken withdrew from the election citing "low probability of success". Between the first and second rounds of MP ballots -- Waters gained a lot of momentum as the outsider candidate. Thornberry, who had been regarded by many as the comfortable option to succeed Brandt for years, became associated with the failures of the old populist branch of the party and suffered among the centre-left base of the parliamentary party. A considerable bump of his popularity came from the endorsement of billionaire media personality and Labour Democratic donor -- Lord (Alan) Sugar. Lord Sugar's support of Waters saw many undecideds turn towards the former Deputy Defence Secretary instead of the safer option, which was Thornberry. With no candidate winning an outright majority of the votes, Waters and Burr were brought to a party-wide ballot to elect the next leader. In a massive upset to the old party establishment, the left-moderate globalist -- John Waters -- was appointed party leader. As one of his first decisions, Waters agreed to support a Popular Republican-led opposition and thoroughly reformed party leadership to reflect the new direction of the party -- replacing many Brandt-era officials with more liberal and moderate voices. Category:The Imperial Constitution Category:Democratic Unionist Party